Christians in Medieval Anatolian Popular Narratives

Abstract: Islamization of Anatolia in the pre-Ottoman period that ranges from the first coming of Turkish nomads in 11th century until the rise of Ottoman state in 14th century represents one of the core aspects of transformation of Anatolia and one of the greatest changes in history. In this paper we would like to concentrate on determining ethnical, religious and social identification of Christian Anatolian population on the basis of the popular narratives of Anatolia like Battal-name, Danishmend-name and Saltuk-name.Focal point of the work would be the perception of Muslim Anatolian population of their Christian counterparts in terms of intercommunal and interreligious interactions

Short Bio: Mihajlo Bozovic graduated from the Department of Oriental studies of Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. At the same department we obtained his master’s degree by completing his thesis with the title: “Anatara ibn Shedad al-Absi: from reality to myth”. Since 2012 he has been a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. The same year he was awarded a scholarship from the Ministry of Education and as such he is included in an ongoing research project titled “Christian culture on the Balkans in Middle Ages: Byzantine Empire, Serbians and Bulgarians from 9th till 15th century”. Mihajlo Bozovic is currently living in Istanbul, Turkey where he is a PhD candidate at the Alliance of Civilizations Institute.